Dutchtown High football player collapses, dies

A Dutchtown High School student collapsed and died after football practice and a game of pickup basketball in the school's gymnasium on Thursday.

Staff reports

A Dutchtown High School student collapsed and died after football practice and a game of pickup basketball in the school's gymnasium on Thursday.

Ascension Parish schools spokesman Johnnie Balfantz Jr. said the student was playing basketball with other students after practice and waiting for a parent to pick him up when he collapsed around 1 p.m.

Balfantz said the boy was taken by helicopter to a Baton Rouge hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He declined to identify the student.

The student was an incoming freshman who already had been named a member of the football team. Classes at the high school are scheduled to start next month.